Alberta’s Nathan Sitko & Hodgson Racing conclude their 2025 season with strong showings…
Canada’s Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car class team “darlings” Hodgson Racing finished off their impressive 2025 racing campaign with back-to-back weekend final round appearances at Bakersfield CA and Las Vegas NV.
At Bakersfield’s legendary annual Good Vibrations-presented California Hot Rod Reunion (Oct 25-27), Nathan Sitko took the Hodgson Racing iconic Bubble Up/Pacemaker Firebird to the championship final round after qualifying #13 for that very tough 16-car field.
Sitko’s path to that placing included taking out category giants Bobby Cottrell (in round one) and NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Champion Shane Westerfield (in the semi finals). In the final – his effort of 5.696 secs did however fall short of Jon Capps who enjoyed a phenomenal event weekend in the Matthews Motorsports Camaro and who clocked a winning 5.543 secs.
“The Hot Rod Reunion race was an awesome weekend for us,” Nathan stated. “We ran strong throughout and managed to grab a hole-shot win in the semifinals — which was a great confidence boost. The car was consistent, and I really felt like I was settling into a rhythm on the driving side.”
The truly formidable Hodgson Racing Firebird — from Edmonton — was in high form within Nitro Nostalgia FC class circuit racing in 2025.
“It was a great way to close out the NHRA Heritage Series portion of our season — and we finished No. 2 in the final points standings.”
One week later, the team was back in action within the Legends Nitro Funny Car portion of the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals held as Las Vegas — part of that 8-car presentation – 1000′ foot race.
Sitko qualified #4 for that feature (4.793 secs) and took out Derrick Moreira and Shane Westerfield (on a holeshot again – 4.689 to 4.675 secs) to again run for event glory. But as drag racing fate would have it, Nathan had a parachute deploy prematurely which negated a potential win, losing by a 4.693 secs to 4.858 secs count to Geoff Monise’s Firebird.
Nathan Sitko finished a superb 2nd in final NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series points for 2025.
“It’s always fun racing in Vegas,” Nathan confirmed. “For our final event of the year, even though we came up just short in the final it was still a really positive weekend. This car was coming around nicely, and it felt like everything was clicking — the crew, the tune-up, and the driving.”
Nathan Sitko’s 2025 season highlights were very ample. In just his 2nd year campaigning in the truly formidable Hodgson Racing car, Nathan managed his biggest career prize so far when his talented team took the LNS title at Indy’s US Nationals last Labor Day weekend. So far in the car his career quick times are 5.510 secs 1/4 mile & 4.653 secs 1000′.
“We placed very high in points and had strong finish,” he added. “That gives us a lot of both motivation and momentum for heading into 2026.”
Posted by Bruce Biegler
Photos by Dave DeAngelis & Phil Hutchison
